Speech Therapy: Smelly Incentives

My sister, a librarian, and my cousin, a Kg teacher, told me about an interesting reward, Smellies. Basically, it's just using a scented lip gloss to draw on the backs of hands. Since I'm cheap, I was interested in this system and bought a few tubes and one pack at Target.

I've been trying it out this week with a few groups. The Functional Academics kids love the smellies so far and will work for them. Most of the younger groups are happy. I haven't tried it with the older students. The smellies are a way for me to reinforce behavior in the groups that need more than just a small sticker at the end of the session, and the older students will work for a sticker.

One of my more social groups is comprised of 5 1st-graders, and they like to relate everything to themselves. For example, one students may be working on /l/ and say "ladybug" and then there are 3 comments about personal experiences with ladybugs. Since I only have the students for a short time, I'm not hitting as many objectives as I want to. We are trying something new. The students get to talk to me about anything school-appropriate on the way to and the way back from speech. During sitting time, they have to work on their objectives. Smellies are pretty frequent in this group, one after every round.

But here's what happens. Two of the students are quiet and work for the smellies. One gets a smelly about 50% of the time. One is going to talk no matter what and is very honest that he did talk and doesn't get a smelly. And the fifth one decides whether the scent is one he wants to work for or not. If he's interested, he will be quiet for one go-round, get the scent, and then continue talking because he doesn't need another smelly.

Grrrr... These are all really good kids. They are mostly artic and have good language. They are just being first-graders and relating their personal experiences. I'm just trying to get more trials and practice.

So... the smellies are pretty effective for most groups. I'm going to continue to try them in the groups that need frequent reinforcers. But I'm open to suggestions for the one 1st-grade group. The Magic Talking Stick - only the person holding the pointer gets to talk - is usually a good reminder, but it doesn't work, either.

What kinds of behavior management do you use? What have you found to be effective?